Last Tuesday I decided that it was time for talking about Software Craftsmanship at London’s XtC.

I thought that it would be great if those of us aspiring craftsmen should start sharing our thoughts with people here in good old Europe. Talking to Ade (after he confirmed in the Wiki that he’d come to the meeting) we decided that we had to bring some books (Mc Breen’s and Sennet’s) and some printouts from the manifesto, the current principles that are under revision) and the page in the wikipedia.

Armed with some copies I went into the session.

We started, after a while of chatting about work and other things, by asking who actually had read ever McBreen’s book. Non surprisingly nobody had, so Ade started giving some background about the history of software craftsmanship in terms of the books published that lead to the current state of the movement.

The discussion lead to some interesting concepts exposed by XXX on how the goal of perpetual learning can be found in different places. Music is one of the most cited examples. Musicians have embraced their career and made it part of their life, practicing, practicing, practicing. It is really astounding how many people don’t really practice in the software industry.

The example for this could be something like this. Let’s suppose that instead of software developers we are musicians. We go to this concerts every day; the audience is expectant, looking up to us, and we start practicing, our music sounds awful, nothing seems to be really right (maybe some small parts here and there).

Would you go to that concert?

I actually wouldn’t (unless it’s the first concert of my son while still in school).
It’s really surprising how people in the software industry think that having a recently backed university title makes them good professionals.

As we discussed in the meeting it is very important to have apprenticeship programs for us to evolve and make learning as one of the most important aspects of our work. Ade made an interesting point there (not his exact words, but I guess I got it more or less right):

Imagine you read a book with the condensed knowledge in one area that the author explored in 20 years of research. By reading it you gain that knowledge and insights from him.
Isn’t it your responsibility to share your learning? And more so, isn’t it also your responsibility to become much better in that area than the original author, now that you have gained the knowledge in such a record time?

All in all the session was really nice. The people attending participated, and the whole conversation was very honest and open.

One of the things I notice though is that we share a common need for moving into building quality software; well crafted software; but it seems that there is a fear to embrace this as one of your cornerstones of our professional life. We need to make people see that this way is possible, perhaps the only way to really achieve the quality that our customers deserve!